Weird echo/sonic repeats or sound loops.

[Der Kriegsherr]

I have a Soundblaster Live! Value soundcard and get lots of sputtering sound loops. At some random points in the scenario, the sound will stutter and repeat itself much like Max Headroom used to skip/sputter his speech.

The game used to lock up somewhat often. Since I upgraded to a new motherboard and 1.6 Ghz CPU, the lockups don't happen but I get stuttering instead.

Any explanations or solutions? I'm running Windows 98SE.

Thanks.

[Schrullenhaft]

SoundBlaster Live cards have problems with VIA chipsets that usually result in some 'crackling' to the sound. Newer motherboards may not have this problem as often as some slightly older ones. Some motherboard manufacturers released BIOS updates that helped with this in conjunction with newer Live drivers, but there isn't a consistent solution to my knowledge.

You'll want to make sure that you have the appropriate chipset driver installed. This can also help with AGP video cards since there is often an AGP driver.

If you're using any sound mods they may also be a possible cause of the problem (different sample rates, etc.).

[Der Kriegsherr]

I thought that my soundcard might be too old, so I decided to upgrade to a newer Audigy soundcard. Do you think that this might solve the problem?

PS: This is the same problem that I've had before, except that CMBO used to freeze instead of stutter.

Thanks.

[Schrullenhaft]

Audigy's are a bit better than the Live cards, but in regards to possible problems with VIA (and other) chipsets, they're in the same boat. Again, the most common problem for some of these cards with some VIA chipsets is usually a 'crackling' sound (which happens everytime there's audio being played).

Creative hasn't updated the Live drivers for 98 in quite awhile (May 2000), so you probably have up to date drivers. Looking through their Knowledgebase I came across the following article that may point you in the direction of a solution (though the error isn't exactly the same): Looping startup sound

Generally it may be an IRQ conflict where sharing the IRQ with a very busy device is causing problems for your sound. Your SB Live may be sharing an IRQ with a video card, modem or NIC. Check the System control panel > Device Manager tab > double-click on the Computer device to get a listing of IRQs used. Creative's advice is to move the Live to a different PCI slot where it may use a different IRQ (or share it with another device that isn't so problematic).